St. Petersburg, Russia

See all of our photos from St. Petersburg here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/103620108216329120374/albums/5913101133610114881

St. Petersburg was so much fun! While planning the trip, I didn't really know what to expect, only that I should see the city since it’s only a 3.5 hour train ride from Helsinki, where we were for the last few days. The visa process for Russia was a much bigger ordeal than I had anticipated, but in hindsight, I’m glad we went through with it.

Our first impression of the city was not so great. At the train station, we couldn't find a taxi driver who would take us to our hotel for a reasonable price, and negotiating didn't seem to help. We ended up overpaying a guy who dropped us off 5 blocks away from our hotel.

The city, though, was so impressive! We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Hermitage (Winter Palace) and Peterhof Palace. They were our favorite palaces so far on the trip! Every room in the Hermitage is gorgeous, and many have art exhibits. The palace itself is huge; it took us four hours just to see the highlights. If anyone plans to visit, definitely buy tickets online to avoid the hour plus queue. Peterhof, which is about half an hour outside of Saint Petersburg, is filled with fountains of all types. My advice there is to take the public mini-bus there, which is cheap and ran frequently. The tourist hydrofoil is way overpriced and is not really a fun nor time-saving ride.

The main Hermitage building

One of the hundreds of rooms inside the Hermitage

The main fountains leading up to Peterhof Palace 

Other fountains and beautiful gardens at Peterhof

Walking around the city any time of the day is great. There’s beautiful architecture everywhere. My favorites were along the waterfront and on the main street of Nevskiy Prospekt. While we were there in July, there was a long dusk/sunset at around 11pm - lighting at that time of day is magical on a clear day. Plus, if you get tired of walking, the city has an efficient, clean, and beautiful subway system.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood - the inside is even more impressive!

The riverfront at dusk

Typical canal-side buildings

A church near Peterhof Palace

Food was great too. We found a bunch of atmospheric restaurants with delicious Russian cuisine. I love Russian pancakes, which are a slightly thicker and chewier version of French crepes. Why haven’t they made their way to New York?

The only things that could have made the stay more pleasant: if English were more widely spoken, if tourist attractions were more friendly to tourists, of course, if cab drivers weren’t scammers.